PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli power desktop PC review

When we first saw the specifications of the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli, we felt it had a good chance of grabbing top spot in our £1,001+ desktop PCs chart. But we hadn’t reckoned on the success of the Penryn revolution.

Time and again PC Specialist puts in a sterling effort, only to find its way blocked by the likes of the Chillblast Fusion Zodiac and Arbico Elite 8500GTS. When we first saw the specifications of the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli, we felt it had a good chance of grabbing top spot in our £1,001+ desktop PCs chart. But we hadn’t reckoned on the success of the Penryn revolution.

Not that you should dismiss the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli out of hand. Its storage space (two 500GB hard drives and a flash memory device) is second to none – for specialists looking to store masses of video and audio files, the extra space could more than prove its worth.

We’re also impressed by the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli’s visuals. The LG L226WTQ 22in flat-panel offers such strong image quality that its low price tag seems like an aberration. With its sharp definition and fabulous colour palette, this is a screen to adore. Similarly, the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli's paired 8800 GT graphics cards make for eyecatching framerates, placing this PC ahead of the Arbico Elite 8500GTS on pure gaming speed. The robust casing (with a generous smattering of USB ports) is another plus, while the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli's sound system is decent and the LG DVD writer thoroughly capable.

But the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli loses ground when it comes to the processor. Whereas the Arbico Elite 8500GTS and Chillblast Fusion Zodiac are graced by trailblazing Penryn chips, the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli has to make do with the old-hat E6850. Performance is still pretty good – for an E6850, a WorldBench score of 120 is excellent, which is probably testament to the 4GB of Corsair DDR2-800 RAM. But it certainly doesn’t compare to the E8500. The PC Specialist Apollo 880GT Sli is also a little more expensive than the Chillblast Fusion Zodiac.

Verdict

The Apollo 880GT Sli is another fine effort from PC Specialist, which falls narrowly short of picking up an award.

Even with the newly priced CyberPower breathing down its neck, the Arbico Elite 8500GTS retains enough clout to keep its place at the head of our £1,001+ PCs chart. This is mostly down to some juicy hardware components.

One number can make a big difference. The Core 2 Duo E6750 processor sounds like it ought to be a close match for the E6850, but that fatal digit is enough to squeeze the PC Specialist Apollo 880GT into fourth place. The real-world difference between the chips isn’t huge, but it becomes noticeable when speed and performance are pushed to the limit.

Another impressive machine from Chillblast, only the Fusion Zodiac's comparatively high price tag keeps it locked out of the top two in our current £1,001+ desktop PCs chart. It does have its strengths though and, for pure gaming speed, the Fusion Zodiac actually surpasses the Arbico Elite 8500GTS.

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